I’m so excited to announce that I have another printable for you today!! This phrase, “Just be cool,” is something we say a lot in my family. This is what I tell the boys when they are getting crazy. It’s what I tell them when we talk about how you should treat people. It’s like a new school way of the “do unto others…” saying. And it is also what I’ve been feeling in regards to the blog lately. You remember my goal setting post from Monday? Well, when I start to get all overwhelmed by my to-do list or the gigantic task of figuring out a new name, I tell myself, “Just be cool.” And it totally calms me down. I thought it might be something that you needed in your life right now as well. It doesn’t really mean dress better, or like cooler things than everybody else (although if that is a goal of yours, that totally works!) It just means settle down.

I’ve been trying to work with more bloggers, who I’ve met over the years. So for this one, I reached out to Sarah of Sarah Hearts. I truly admire her graphic design skills and when I asked her to create this printable from me, I basically gave her no instruction. And she sent over this FANTASTICALLY DESIGNED gorgeousness and my heart skipped a beat. It was better than I ever imagined it being! And I am so grateful for her willingness to partner with me on this. Blogging can sometimes be very individual, especially when you think in terms of being cooped up in a house hunched over a computer. So the fact that two bloggers can pair up from one sunny coast (me in Cali) to the other sunny coast, (Sarah in Florida) is so awesome.

Right now I have the Just be Cool Printable my hallway where my family can see it when we come out of our bedrooms. It’s a great reminder as we start each day and head out in to the world. And yes, that is a giant photo of my husband hanging on the wall. Thanks for asking.

And these Bougainvillea! So good. I have a tiny little patch of them in my backyard that I can see when I work at my “desk” (kitchen counter). But I think I’m going to start cutting them up and putting them in every room. I know I can’t be the only one with a thing for these hot pink flowers!

But I digress. I know the detail is hard to see in the other photos, but for serious, this print might be my favorite of all time. Sarah is my favorite. From the colors, to the overall feel of this, I’m in love. So just be cool. And go download the print.

Happy hump day, yo. As I get older, I’ve become really in to coffee. Not only do I look forward to my morning cup beginning the night before but I also enjoy finding those places that serve really delicious coffee. I also love the community aspect of coffee. I love how you can sit and enjoy a cup with someone and use it as a way to really connect and spend time with them. I began drinking coffee, right out of college, rather by necessity when I commuted to Los Angeles for my internship. Although I was getting plenty of sleep at night, the monotonous, stop-and-go drive was enough to make me feel like I was falling asleep at the wheel. The simple act of sipping something warm, helped me to focus and drive safely. Previous to this, I had enjoyed only mochas (because who doesn’t like to drink chocolate) as a desserty treat. Fast forward to today, coffee is now part of “me time.” Sure I drink it while I take the kids to school, but I also really enjoy preparing it in the morning and knowing that I am about to start my day and will hopefully make some magic happen. So I will tell you how this coffee lover free printable came to be.

Because I am a music lover, certain song lyrics float around in my head. This one, by the Beastie Boys, had been an idea I had for New Year’s Eve cocktails. I reached out to one of my favorite graphic designers, Heather of River and Bridge, and since I waited until the last-minute to work on it, gave her very minimal details of what I was looking for. What came back, though was so much better. When I opened the file and saw more of a coffee cup type cup, my first thought was, “Heather is a genius.” For most of us, our day doesn’t get started without coffee. And I love that this feels empowering. Do you get that? I usually over think everything.

To me, this says, don’t waste any of the day. Let’s get started and tackle what awesome things lie ahead.

To me it says, let’s make a change, collectively. Not just on your own, but as a community. Let’s finish the cup and DO something.

And it is also just fun! What does it mean to you?

Download this print, frame it and remind yourself to make the most of your day. Take the day by storm and finish that cup. Sure, it sometimes takes 2 or 3 cups to get going. But use that time to plan your attack. Then tilt your head back. And finish that cup.

The song printable is set up as an 8×10 but you should be able to shrink it to fit whatever size best suits your needs. This would also make a great gift tag for a coffee lover gift!

I knew I liked this Sauder cabinet when my husband first put it together. But I’m realizing it is even more awesome than I originally thought. It is crazy versatile and fits in just about any room in my house. I recently had my husband help me move it in to the bedroom. The colors work perfectly and it is now used as a place to store all his business supplies. He recently started a small business with a partner and our house has had stuff everywhere. We rarely eat at our dining room table anymore so I knew that this cabinet would be perfect to hide all that clutter. Can’t wait to share his company with you all soon! You are going to love it!

This is where the cabinet was before. I still really love the idea of putting the cabinet back in this location and instead of using it as a bar area, like I originally did, keeping it as the supplies cabinet. This will actually be closer to where he is conducting business and provide a place for me to set my keys and sunglasses in between school pick ups. I also need it back in the living room because otherwise, I have very few places to put Halloween decorations. I’ve got a neon green skeleton man who needs a home!

But sometimes this cabinet needs to be in my work space off my kitchen. One of the key selling points of the cabinet for me was the faux marble top. It provides a great surface for photographs so I move in here from time to time to get some work done.

I can’t believe how perfectly this piece fits in this bedroom nook. It is out of the way and is a great place to keep all of my husbands supplies without them being strewn all over the house. It is also a great place to display one of my father-in-law’s paintings.

This desk caddy keeps all my husband’s supplies tidy and easy to get to. I’m just wondering how long it will be until all of those pens go missing. My kids love to draw and I know once they realize these are here, they will be “borrowing” them all the time.

I didn’t want to add too many knick knacks so this space can remain really user friendly, so I added two small cacti, one wood, one real. It adds a nice little decorative touch without being frilly.

And I moved my husbands catch-all tray from his nightstand to this cabinet so he can grab it even easier as he heads out the door in the morning. The color of the tray goes really well with the faux marble and it is small so it doesn’t take up too much space.

These ridged sides really add a nice design element to the room as well. Between the great shape of the legs and this cool texture on the sides, this cabinet is not typical and is really great looking.

Which is why it also works so well as a prop for my blog posts. I try to plan my editorial calendar ahead of time so when I shoot things, I usually have a few different crafts or recipes to do all at once. This cabinet makes it super easy for me to have everything close by so I can be super efficient and get a lot of posts done at once.

Although the cabinet doesn’t look that big, the inside shelves are really spacious and can hold a ton of stuff. When I had this cabinet set up as a bar it always shocked me just how full of stuff it was!

And the marble-esque top is a perfect backdrop for photos. It isn’t so shiny that I get reflections off of it and the colors are subtle but pretty. I set it in front of my white photo backdrop and it is a great spot to shoot things, especially cocktails.

I am SO glad I didn’t pick the chair that I had my eye on! This Sauder cabinet has been awesome and no matter where we decide to keep it, it will be perfect for our house. The best part was that the price was super reasonable and I have half a mind to order another one so I can put them in the living room AND the bedroom! This piece is so versatile which is one of the reasons I love it so much. You can check out my Pinterest board for versatile furniture that can be found on the Sauder site to find more pieces that I think would be easy to use in multiple places in my house.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Sauder. The opinions and text are all mine.

Our living room is coming along. VERY slowly. We are super happy with our new rug. We have ordered a new chair. And we are preparing to put up a gallery wall of some of our favorite art. For our gallery wall, we wanted the prints to work around a small piece of furniture. At first we were thinking about something like a small decorative table, but we were having a really hard time finding the perfect piece. This spot is right in our entry way, so it can’t come too far out from the wall, and we want it to be a little tall, something that wouldn’t look too small against a large focal point wall. And while I wasn’t originally thinking about a storage cabinet, that is precisely what we found. And it is perfect! For so many reasons. I also never dreamed I would use it as a bar area. But guess what. It’s full of booze. And both my husband and I LOVE it (the cabinet. The booze too but only in a socially acceptable way). That almost never happens.

I was familiar with Sauder from doing a previous post so I knew that they would have furniture that suits my style. I spent a few hours really scouring the site and looking to see what might fit the space the best. But as you do, I got all side tracked and pretty much furnished my whole home in my head before I got back on track and really focused on the task at hand. I still have my eye on this chair though. The site is super easy to use and breaks it down for people who want to search for things in various ways. I love that! Like, at first I searched ‘Tables and Nightstands’ but then popped over to search ‘Living Room’ and then finally under the ‘Style Lab’ tab which shows the furniture in styled vignettes. It makes it really easy to find the pieces you want to see while also showing you things you might not have been thinking about. Once I found this cupboard – I mean, the faux marble top grabbed my attention and I couldn’t shake it I was ready to place my order. The ordering was simple and in a week or so, it showed up at my door.

My husband and I opened up the box and started building the cabinet. There were really easy to follow instructions in the box and I am certain that I could have put it together without him. But that is how our roles are divided in our household. He gets bugs, trash and building things. I get taking pictures, nagging and smiling sweetly when he threatens to walk off the job…

I was really impressed at how each piece was labeled and it was easy to lay out and organize how to put it together. But I was also impressed at how affordable it was without sacrificing style. While it is a faux marble top, it still looks really nice and the shape of the wooden legs help the whole piece to look modern and stylish. If you found this piece at a trendy furniture store it would cost 3 times as much.

How great does this look! I kept the styling simple for now as we are going to build the gallery wall around it and won’t have this photo leaning against the wall when that happens. The colors work so well in the room and are really interesting how they all work together. But you know what else I’m super excited about?!

It’s full of cocktails! I never thought I would have a designated bar area in my living room. I mean, we have two small boys who kick soccer balls around the house and love to wrestle.

The fact that mama’s favorites can be tucked away inside the cabinet makes it perfect. Since this is the first thing that you see when you enter our home, I didn’t really want to have liquor bottles set out in plain sight as if to say, “Welcome to my home. Let’s get sloshed.” And I now have a place to house my wine glasses. These glasses do not fit in my kitchen cupboards. Dumb.

I love marble. Faux or not.

This cabinet is going to be so great for entertaining. The surface will wipe clean easily and I can make drinks where the guests are instead of being stuck in the kitchen preparing them. It’s so funny how you start out thinking you want one thing and end up with something else. The unexpected plus of this cabinet is that I now have another surface to style in this room. I found during the holidays last year that I really didn’t have anywhere to set decorations, so this year I’ll be able to set out a little village or something. SO excited about that! I can’t wait to get started on the gallery wall to finish off this spot in our living room. And I’m certain Sauder has a TV stand that would round out the furniture update in that room. I think I’ll go look right now…

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Sauder. The opinions and text are all mine.

The weather in sunny southern California allows us to pretty much sit outside year round. And it’s killing me that my family doesn’t have a ridiculously cool outdoor set up to chill out in. Next week I’m sharing my little outdoor oasis that my husband put together for me for Mother’s Day, but my dream fresh air experience has tons of bright patio decor. In my opinion, you can’t have too many colors. I’d take my wine, magazines and a patio playlist to my al fresco living space and relax all weekend long. Here are some more great patio decor ideas for my dream patio: